INDIAN NOTES . 
AND MONOGRAPHS 




A SERIES OF PUBLICA- 
TIONS RELATING TO THE 
AMERICAN ABORIGINES 



NATIVE COPPER OBJECTS 
OF THE COPPER ESKIMO 

BY 

DONALD A. CADZOW 



NEW YORK 
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 
HEYE FOUNDATION 

1920 



en 



This series of Indian Notes and Mono- 
graphs is devoted primarily to the publica- 
tion of the results of studies by members of 
the staff of the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, and is uniform 
with Hispanic Notes and Monographs, 
pubhshed by the Hispanic Society of 
America, with which organization this 
Museum is in cordial cooperation. 



Gift 



NATIVE COPPER OBJECTS 
OF THE COPPER ESKIMO 



BY 

DONALD A. CADZOW 



5 



NATIVE COPPER OBJECTS OF 
THE COPPER ESKIMO 



By Donald A. Cadzow 

EPOSITS of copper in the Coro- 
nation gulf district of northwest- 
ern Canada were first reported in 
1766, when Moses Horton, the 
Hudson's Bay Company's governor at Fort 
Prince of Wales on Hudson bay, obtained 
specimens of this metal from Indians living 
on the northwest coast of the bay, who had 
received it from natives farther west, to- 
gether with the information that there were 
deposits on a large river in their country. 
Horton, hoping that the metal could be com 
mercialized, commissioned Samuel Hearne, 
a young Englishman, to explore the district 
in which the copper had been discovered 
for the purpose of determining whether 
the locality could be reached by ships from 



INDIAN NOTES 

L 



6 


COPPERESKIMO 




Hudson bay, and if the copper existed in 
sufficient quantities to pay the company to 
mine and to ship it to England.^ 

After two imsuccessful attempts, Hearne 
finally, with much difficulty and almost 
endless hardship, reached the shore of the 
river where the deposits were reported. 
Although he was not a geologist, he verified 
the statements of the Indians, but proved 
that the district where the copper occurred 
was too remote and difficult of access to 
permit profitable mining, even if ore should 
be found in abundance. Hearne surveyed 
the river and named it the Coppermuie. 
While thus employed, the northern Indians 
who had accompanied him discovered and 
massacred a smaU party of Eskirno camped 
on the shore of the stream. These natives 
were undoubtedly the forefathers of the 
people who are now called the Copper 
Eskimo, or Kidnelik (Qidneliq). Hearne 
reported that native copper was used ex- 
tensively by them in making utensils and 
weapons, and brought back a few specimens 
of their handiwork to Fort Prince of Wales, 




INDIAN NOTES 



EXPEDITIONS 


7 


whence they were shipped to England and 
all trace of them lost. 

Since the time of Samuel Hearne, Copper- 
mine river has been visited by several ex- 
plorers, and the district, then sparsely oc- 
cupied by northern Athabascan Indians, 
was later taken over by the Eskimo, who 
hunt far inland during the summer for 
caribou and return to the coast for seal in 
winter. They no longer fear their heredi- 
tary enemies, the Indians, who, on the 
advent of white traders, moved from the 
barrens to the timber-land, where the climate 
is less severe and trading stores more 
accessible. 

It was the good fortune of the WTiter, 
while conducting an expedition into the 
Mackenzie river district of northwestern 
Canada in the summer of 1919, in the 
interest of the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, to meet a small 
party of Copper Eskimo. These people 
were manv miles from their usual summer 
hunting-ground, and in the center of what 
a few years before had been hostile territory. 
But through the influence of Messrs DeArcy 




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! 



8 


COPPER ESKIMO 




x\rden and A. A. Carroll, prospectors and 
traders, who have spent several years in 
their country, these Eskimo were persuaded 
to come to Fort Norman on Mackenzie 
river, protection from the Indians being 
assured them by the white men. It was 
when this party was at Fort Norman that 
the writer met them and collected ethno- 
logical specimens, a,mong which are numer- 
ous pieces of worked native copper, a few 
examples of which are described in these 
pages. 

Mr Arden and Mr CarroU kindly offered 
their services as interpreters, and through 
them the following information was gathered. 
One of the men, Katiuck by name, said he 
was a Pallirmiut, and that he made his 
home near the mouth of Coppermine river 
in winter and hunted inland toward Bear 
lake m summer. He stated that the native 
copper used in making utensils and weapons 
was usually picked up in the form of float, 
both on the western side of Mctoria island 
and along Coppermine river. He also de- 
scribed the primitive native method of 
copper- working. Following is a description 




INDIAN NOTES 



CADZOW— COPPER ESKIMO 




GAFF-HOOK AND FLOAT COPPER 
a, Mass of float copper from which a piece has been cut. 

hook with copper prongs 



GAFF-HOOK 


9 


of the more noteworthy objects gathered 
during the trip. 

Gaff-hook. — The manufacture and use of 
the copper-pronged gaff -hook represented 
in pi. I was described as follows: First, a 
rough prong is hammered out of a small 
mass of float copper (a) with a beach pebble 
held in the hand. Next it is smoothed and 
finished by rubbing against a large bowlder. 
A piece of caribou antler is shaped into a 
head (b), holes are cut through it, and each 
prong is attached by passing one end 
through a hole and hammering it to a flat 
rivet-head. The prongs are then securely 
wedged in place with small pieces of copper. 
The hooks are not of uniform size, but vary 
according to the fancy of the maker or to 
the material at hand. Copper rivets are 
sometimes used to strengthen the hooks by 
driving them through the head and flatten- 
ing the ends. The head is beveled where it 
is fastened to the wooden shaft, and is held 
in place with copper pegs, the junction being 
securely wrapped with strips of raw sealskin. 
±iie biidiL, wnicn is irom lo il. to zu it. in 
length and about IJ in. in diameter, is 




AND MONOGRAPHS. 





10 


COPPER ESKIMO 




preferably made of dry and seasoned spruce. 
Owing to the difficulty in securing material 
for the shaft, three or four pieces of wood 
are often spliced together to attain the 
desired length. 

The gaff -hook is used generaU}^ for catch- 
ing the so-caUed trout in the streams flowing 
into the Arctic. These fish, which in reality 
are a species of salmon, weighing from three 
to ten pounds, enter fresh water only during 
the spawning season. In using the gafi* the 
fisherman finds a shallow place in a stream 
where the trout are running. Standing m a 
cleared space, usually a gravel bar^ he 
cautiously shps the hook into the water, 
prongs upward, and allows the pole to float 
with the current until the hook is directly 
behind a fish, then with a quick jerk he 
transfixes it, and, running up the bank, 
drags it out of the water. With a forward 
thrust he loosens his catch, kills it with a 
club, and is ready for another. The fisher- 
men of the tribe are usuall}^ accompanied 
by the women, who cut the fish in strips, 
dr\^ them on low racks on the spot, and store 
them in caches for winter use. 


INDIAN NOTES 



CADZOW— COPPER FSKIMO 



PL. II 




SPEAR-HOOKS 



a, Three-pronged spear-hook with copper barbs and center 
prong, h, Spear-hook with copper barbs and cen- 
ter prong of notched antler 



I 

I 



I 
I 

! 

I 

i 
i 

I 

! 

r 

I 



SPEAR-HOOK 



Length of head, lOJ in. 

Length of forward prong, 9i in. 

Length of rear prong, 7 J in. 

Spear-hook. — Fish are frequently taken 
with a three-pronged spear-hook (pi. ii), 
used in much the same manner as the gaff, 
except that the fish is transfixed on the 
spear with a forward thrust on the shaft. 
The outer prongs of the spear are made of 
wood, to which tips of antler are lashed, wdth 
inward- and backward-pointing barbs of 
native copper driven through them. The 
outer prongs spread apart on striking the 
fish, and the barbs come together in its 
sides or meet beneath the belly, thus holding 
the fish securely to the center prong, which 
is made of copper or of antler. 

This spear is used when the fisherman 
wishes to be certain of his catch, for, in 
using the spear-hook he is assured that the 
fish will not escape when once transfixed, 
as often happens when striking a lively 
fish with the gaff. 

{a) Length of outer prongs, 14 in. 
Barbs, 2 in. 

Length of center prong, 6 in. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



12 


COPPER ESKIMO 




{b) Length of outer prongs, 12 in. 
Barbs, 3 in. 

Length of center prong, 4 in. 

Fish-hook, — PL iii represents another 
type of fishing-tackle used by the Copper 
Eskimo for fishing through the ice in winter. 
A piece of dried fish is tied to the copper 
hook for bait, and the fisherman bobs it 
up and down in the water to attract the 
fish. The proximal end of the copper hook 
is beaten out flat to facilitate the attach- 
ment of the line, which is spliced around the 
shank and stitched in place with a small 
piece of sinew. The line is made of four 
strands of sinew, braided and spliced, and 
is kept well-greased with seal-oil to make it 
more pliable and to prevent freezing while 
out of the water. 

Length of hook, 2 J in. 

Length from point to shaft, IJ in. 

Ice Chisels. — PL iv illustrates a copper- 
bladed ice chisel used to chop holes in the 
ice for fishing, or for enlarging seal-hole§. 
Thp rhi<^pl i«; Tnonntprl on p heaw wooden 
shaft, about 6 ft. long and beveled at the 




INDIAN NOTES 



i 



CADZOW — COPPER ESKIMO 





COPPER FISH-HOOK 

Showing a portion of the attached sinew line 



CADZOW — COPPER ESKIM3 




9iiili^^^iHP 

ICE CHISEL 

Showing copper blade and head of caribou antler 



r 



j 



SNOW KNIVES 


13 


end. It is attached by placing the beveled 
end of the antler head on the beveled end 
of the shaft and pegging them together, the 
junction being wrapped with a sealskin 
thong. 

The blade here shown is attached to the 
antler head by bring driven into the pith 
of the antler when green, and allowed to 
dry. The shrinking of the antler grips the 
blade, which is serrated on the edges that 
enter the head. 

Length of blade, 6 in. 
Length of head, 5 J in. 

Snow Knives. — PI. v represents three 
double-edged, paddle-shaped knives, with 
copper blades. This type of knife is 
used in making snow houses, and is in- 
dispensable in winter. It is carried at all 
times by the men in a sheath attached to 
the bow-case, on the sled or in the hand, 
for they do not know at what moment they 
may be obliged to build a snow-house for 
protection from a severe Arctic storm. 

The copper blade shown in a is mounted 
in a wooden handle, and held in place with 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





! 



14 


COPPER ESKIMO 




strands of sinew passed around a groove 
in the handle and tied. The blade repre- 
sented in b is mounted in an antler handle 
which has a crescentic guard riveted to 
the near end for the purpose of preventing 
the handle from slipping while the knife 
is in use. The handle is wrapped with a 
strip of split willow to strengthen it and to 
enable the user to obtain a firm grip with 
his mittened hand. The blade shown in 
c is mounted in an antler handle composed 
of two pieces beveled and fastened togeth^ 
with three copper rivets, one of them pasal 
ing through the blade to hold it in place o 
the handle, around which sealskin thong 
are wrapped. 

{a) Length of blade, 11 J in. 
Width at center, 2i in. 
Length of handle, 2J in. 

(b) Length of blade, 8 in. 
Width at center, J in. 

Length of handle, including guard; 7i in 

(c) Length of blade, 4J in. 
Width at center, 2J in. 
Length of handle, 9i in. 

ui'MSj Of vv Orrtoii s J\}ZW6S. — 1 ne coppcr 
bladed ulu is essentially a woman's knife 




INDIAN NOTES 



CADZOW — COPPER ESKIMO 



PL. V , ..\ 




SNOW KNIVES WITH COPPER BLADES 

a, Rare type; the blade is mounted in a wooden handle, b, 
Common type; the blade is mounted in an antler handle and 
the crescentic guard is held in place with a copper rivet, r, 
Common type; the roughly-shaped blade is secured in the han- 
dle with a copper rivet. 



CADZOW— COPPER ESKIMO 



PL. yi 




ULUS, OR WOMEN'S KNIVES 
a, Made of a solid piece of copper, with a wooden grip, b, Copper 
blade attached to an antler shank with copper rivets, 
and with an antler grip 



KNIVES AND ADZE 


15 


used in cutting skin for clothing. The 
hide is placed on a board, an incision is 
made with one end of the blade, and the 
skin cut with a forward motion of the wrist. 
The ulu is also used for carving and chopping 
meat and fish. The fan-shaped blade and 
shank represented in pi. vi, a, is made of 
a solid piece of flattened copper, the shank 
passing through the wooden grip and held 
in place with a copper wedge. In b is 
shown a blade attached to the antler shank 
with copper rivets. The shank passes 
through the antler grip, where it is held 
in place with a copper wedge. If the blade 
is made of a separate piece of metal, the 
shank to which it is attached is made flat 
in order that it will not interfere with the 
depth of the cut into food. 

{a) Length from grip to cutting edge, 4 J in. 
Cutting edge, 4^ in. 

(6) Length from handle to cutting edge, 3 in. 
Cutting edge, 3} in. 

PI. VII shows Natine, the wife of Katiuck, 
Adze. — The copper-bladed adze used by 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





16 


COPPER ESKIMO 




the Copper Eskimo is primarily a wood- 
working tool. Snow-shovels, lamp -boards, 
dishes, bows, and other articles are roughly 
blocked out with it, then finished with a 
crooked knife. Frozen meat and fish are 
also chopped with this useful implement. 
The blade of the adze illustrated in pi. vm 
is secured to the curved antler handle with 
thongs of sealskin passed around it and 
through a hole in the helve, holdmg the 
flat face of the blade against the end of the 
handle. 

Length of blade, 7 in. 

Width at cutting edge, 2i in., tapering to 

1 in. at the opposite end. 
Length of handle, 13 in. 

Sealing Eqtupment. — In Coronation gulf 
the seal is the main source of the winter 
food supply, and therefore the sealing har- 
poon (pi. IX, d) is an essential part of the 
equipment of every hunter among the Cop- 
per Eskimo. There are tw^o methods of 
locating a seal's breathing-hole in the ice: 
In the first, dogs are trained for the purpose, 
and the seal-hole finder (fig. 1) is used; 
this is held in the hand like a walking-stick 




INDIAN NOTES 



CADZOW— COPPER ESKIMO 



PL. VIII 




ADZE WITH BLADE OF NATIVE COPPER AND HANDLE 
OF ANTLER 



CADZOW— COPPER ESKIMO 



PL. IX 




SEALING EQUIPMENT 
a, Bone seal indicator, b, Peg for fastening the 
indicator to the edge of the seal hole, c, Spoon of 
muskox-horn for rimming out seal holes and killing 
seals, d, Spear with copper-tipped togglehead, 
squared copper foreshaft, and with copper rivets 
for attaching the antler head to the wooden shaft. 



SEALING OBJECTS 


17 


and poked through the snow until 
a breathing-hole is found, when || 
the hunter places the slender bone \ j 
seal-indicator (pi. ix, a) in the il 
opening, one end just below the | 
surface of the water, while the ; ; 
other is fastened to the edge of \ 
the hole with a pointed bone peg f 
(6), attached to a sinew cord that ' 
extends from the end of the indi- / f 
cator to the center of the peg. j 'j^ 
The hunter sits beside the hole / / 
with his harpoon poised ready to W 
strike, the shaft being held in the ,,*| 
right hand and the retrieving-line [ | 
in the left. When the indicator f 
moves upward, the animal is near- 
ing the surface of the water, and 
the hunter quickly drives the har- \. 
poon toggle-head into the seal, at \\ 
the same time throwing the shaft 1 1 
over his shoulder and grasping \\ 
the line firmlv with both hands. \\ 
When the seal stops strugghng, 
the hole is rimmed with a bone Fig.l— Seal 

hole finder 

pick on the proximal end of the (^gi in.) 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





18 


COPPER ESKIMO 




harpoon shaft, or with a muskox-horn spoon 
(c). The seal is then dragged to the ice 
and killed by pushing the pointed handle 
of the spoon into its eye. Then the wound 
is skewered with a bone peg to prevent loss 
of the blood, which is used in making soup. 

The stem of the toggle-head shown in 
pi. IX, d, is made of caribou-antler, and has 
a line-hole bored through it from the side, 
halfway between the butt and the tip of 
the blade. The blade is a flattened tri- 
angular piece of copper, fastened in a sht 
cut in the distal end of the stem with a 
copper rivet, on a plane with the pointed 
butt. The function of the toggle-head is 
to turn at a right angle to the retrieving- 
line in the flesh of the seal when it parts 
from the foreshaft, the butt and point pre- 
venting the toggle-head from slipping from 
the flesh. The foreshaft is a squared strip 
of copper, the pointed tip of which fits into 
the shallow socket of the toggle-head, the 

LmjAiilicti CilLL JJClllg lJlct\^CLl 111 Ct vJ.CC|J oVJl^J^CL 

on the tip of the head. The head is made 
of caribou-antler, hollowed at the near end. 
The wooden shaft is placed in the hollowed 




INDIAN NOTES 
... 



CADZOW— COPPER ESKIMO 



PL. X 




ARROWHEADS AND SHEATH 

a, b, Single and double barbed, copper-tipped rankling heads. 
c, Rankling head made from a single strip of copper r/. 
Double-tipped rankling head of copper, e, Copper tipped, 
spade-shaped rankling head. /, Single notched form of bone 
arrowhead, g, Rawhide sheath used as cover for / to protect 
its sharp edges when not in use. 



1 

ARROWHEADS 


19 


end and held with three copper rivets passed 
through the head and shaft. 

Length of head, 8 in. 
Length of foreshaft, 5 in. 
Length of toggle-head, 4 in. 
Width of toggle-head blade, IJ in. 

Arrowheads. — The Copper Eskimo use 
three varieties of arrowheads — copper, bone, 
and antler. Those of copper, made either 
of a single piece of metal or having an 
antler foreshaft tipped with a copper point, 
are the more popular and practical. They 
are "rankling" heads, and used for killing 
big game. The pointed dowel inserted into 
the shaft of the arrow is made smaller than 
the socket, so that, when the animal is 
struck, the head will easily slip out of the 
socket and remain in the victim's flesh, 
where with every movement it w^orks farther 
toward the vitals. The bone- or antler- 
pointed heads are usually of the same type 
(pi. X,/), and are employed at close quarters 
for dispatching wounded game, the heavy, 
sharp-edged, broad blade tearing a large 
wound in the victim, killing it quickly. 

PI. X, a, b, represent single- and double- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





20 


COPPER ESKIMO 




barbed, copper- tipped, rankling heads. 
The pointed proximal end of each of the 
round antler foreshafts is inserted in a socket 
in the end of the wooden shaft, and held 
in place with a seizing of sinew. The barbs 
on the foreshaft are designed to prevent the 
head from slipping from the flesh of the 
game. The triangular barbed copper tip 
is fastened to the foreshaft by inserting it 
in a narrow slot, where it is held in place 
with a copper rivet. 

PL X, c, illustrates a copper rankling 
head made from a single strip of copper, 
flattened at the end into a triangular point. 
It is secured to the shaft in the same manner 
as the heads shown in a and h of the same 
plate. 

A double-tipped rankling arrowhead of 
copper is figured in d. The two tips of this 
head, although on the same axis, are at 
right angles to each other. The forward 
tip is the piercing part, while the rear tip 
prevents the head from falhng from the 
flesh. 

A copper -tipped, spade-shaped rankling 
head is shown in e, in which the tip is fast- 




INDIAN NOTES 



REPAIRING 


21 


ened to the antler foreshaft by being placed 
in a socket at the distal end and held in 
place with glue made from seal blood. The 
foreshaft is attached in the same manner 
as the shafts in a and h. 

In / is represented the single-notch form 
of bone arrowhead, used at close quarters. 
This head, when not in use, is kept in a 
rawhide sheath {g) to prevent its sharp 
edges from being chipped by the copper 
arrowheads in the quiver. 

{a) Length of head, 9| in. 

Width of tip at base, 1 in. 
ih) Length of head, 11 in. 

Width of tip at base, | in. 
(c) Length of head, 5 in. 

Width of tip at base, 1 in. 
{d) Length of head, 5| in. 

Width of tips, i in. 
{e) Length of head, SJ in. 

Width of tip at base, f in. 
(/) Length of head, 9 in. 

Width of face in center, | in. 

Repairing with Copper. — Native copper is 
invaluable to the Eskimo of Coronation 
gulf tor repairmg broken nousenold utensils, 
some of which are very fragile. Steatite 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





22 


COPPER ESKIMO 




cooking vessels are repaired, when broken, 
b}^ driving copper staples through the soft 
stone on each side of the fracture, and 
clinched on the inside. 

A muskox-horn dipper is repaired when 
worn or broken by placing a piece of horn 
against the side to be mended and fastening 
it in place with copper rivets, as shown in 
pi. XI. 

The Copper Eskimo are at present rapidly 
becoming semi-civilized. The Hudson's 
Bay Company has opened a trading-post 
near the mouth of Coppermine river, and 
the Northern Trading Company operates a 
trading schooner along the shores of Coro- 
nation gulf. Within a few years the utili- 
zation of native copper by these Eskimo 
for making weapons and utensils will have 
ceased, the white man's handy and practical 
materials having taken its place. 

XOTE 

1. See Hearne, Samuel, Journey from Prince 
of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern 
Ocean, London, 1795. 




INDIAN NOTES 



